Starring: Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis
Rated: R for brutal violence and language
Out of all the films I’ve seen over the years, none has been quite like The Book of Eli. Not since The Passion of the Christ has a Hollywood film been as explicitly Christian as Eli, yet even The Passion can’t match it for violence and gore. An interesting film, for sure. Eli puts some of the most deeply religious materials in the past ten years in the hands of the Hughes Brothers, directors of the graphic novel From Hell. However, Eli’s plot (although science fiction) is an interesting and entertaining one. After a nuclear holocaust destroys most of the world, a lone traveler named Eli (Denzel Washington) is carrying a book that can transform lives, give people meaning and purpose, and is worth dying for: that’s right, he’s carrying a Bible. The last one in the world, no less. Throughout the movie, Christianity is seen as more than a religion: it’s displayed as truth. (God’s truth, actually.) Only the villain of the story (Gary Oldman) wants to misuse scripture to become a more powerful lord. (Interesting that unbelievers recognize that Scripture can be misused.) The Christianity in Eli is hardly perfect: there isn’t a lot of talk on why or how Scripture brings hope or truth, Eli confesses to God that he is “sorry for the bad things” he’s done without mentioning Christ, and the film also raises up other religions to Christianity’s level at the end, but it’s still pretty impressive, especially in showing the power of God’s protection over Eli, and Eli's desire to know God's word.
For his part, Washington (a professing believer) supposedly added a lot of the Biblical material, himself. Beyond that, his performance is what we expect from him: solid. Gary Oldman is likewise good, even if he’s resembles a grungy-looking John Piper. Mila Kunis is the weak-link in the ensemble, totally outperformed by the others. Unlike her other recent films, she really does try here, but her attempt only makes it more obvious that she is acting, and not living the parts like the other two. She sticks out in most scenes, and it’s honestly hard to move past.
But it isn’t the acting, the Hughes’ comic-book style, or even the ending sequence that puts Return of the King to shame that raises problems for Eli. Ultimately, the failure is it’s violence and gore. Eli is not only in charge of presenting hope to the helpless, but he’s also in charge of slaying those who get in his way. Gore and violence isn’t always wrong or bad, but Eli’s “protection” of the book is reminiscent of graphic novel violence, glorifying the most brutal ways to kill and dismember people. We are supposed to laugh and cheer when heads, hands, and guts are spilled by Eli. For a film to promote Christianity as well as have a testosterone view of violence and gore is more than confusing: it’s slightly hypocritical, and no amount of justification will quite make up for it. While the movie is quick to point out Psalm 59:1 and show Eli’s protection from his enemies, do we really need to see an arrow fly through a rapist’s crotch?
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